


Love Songs and World Domination

by orphan_account



Category: Neru家 | Neruke
Genre: Gen, i'll update the chara tags + relationship tags as they appear, it's a bunch of loosely-connected oneshots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-02-24 12:29:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13213782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Neruke oneshots that are kinda connected!How the Resistance came to beand how they dominated the world like they said they would.





	1. Happy New Year

“Happy New Year,” Tsuji murmured, quietly observing the bustling city sprawled out before his eyes. It was familiar and unchartered at the same time, leaving his brain permanently confused. The same people sauntered outside of the apartment building, maybe a little rowdier (read: drunker) than usual. The streetlight on the corner was busted, a couple of kids thoroughly decorated the side of his building with spray-painted profanities. If Tsuji squinted, he would be able to see the corruption boiling over from the highest level and seeping through society until he finally affected those at the bottom, such as himself. No matter what, he would always be prey at the bottom of the food chain. It made his stomach churn with unsavory feelings. The boy gripped the grocery store bag in his right hand even tighter and brushed his left fingers through tidy black hair. 

“Tsuji,” a voice called out impatiently. 

Tsuji turned away from the window to face his only and best friend, Azuma. The girl had changed out of her school uniform as soon as they had gotten to Tsuji’s apartment, opting for a black t-shirt and jean shorts (both of which belonged to Tsuji). In her arms, she held two blue towels from the bathroom. They dragged against the wooden floorboard as Azuma walked closer. She grabbed Tsuji’s wrist and tugged him toward her, eyes shining and wearing a suspiciously wide grin. “You were taking forever to get changed,”

Tsuji glanced down at his current attire—a stormy gray shirt and faded jeans. He hadn’t worn those pants since his last growth spurt, so his pants only came down to his ankles. “Sorry,” he told Azuma softly. His mind was still elsewhere. To be honest, he had been dressed for a while now. He and Azuma had rummaged through his closet after coming home from the grocery store, searching for clothes that Tsuji wouldn’t mind being ruined. That hadn’t taken long. Azuma had taken the bathroom. Tsuji had rushed back into the living room to grab the supplies and changed there (in the window’s blind spot to hide from passerby people, obviously, despite being on the fourth floor). Then Tsuji had started looking out the window, slightly amused by the antics of those celebrating the arrival of the new year in the streets.

“It’s fine,” Azuma reassured. She dragged him to the bathroom and patted a dining room chair placed in front of the sink. “Hand me the supplies,” she said. Tsuji did. “Now sit.” Tsuji did. Azuma inspected the bag’s contents before dumping the supplies on the closed toilet seat. Scissors, brush, two boxes of dye, candy because it was going to take a while… For the first time in either of the lives, Tsuji and Azuma were prepared for something. “You’ll go first in case we mess up the first time around. I suppose we wash your hair first? Bleach it, because your hair’s so dark.” She twirled a piece of similarly dark hair between her fingers as she picked up the instructions to read. “Don’t worry, Tsuji. You’re in good hands.”

Tsuji’s eyes were wide. Suddenly, he was having second thoughts about dyeing his hair. Half-tempted to tell Azuma to stop and throw the hair dye out of the window, he closed his eyes and tried to soothe his racing heart. He reminded himself exactly why he was changing up his look for the new year. Vivid memories flooded his brain. Tsuji was breathless, drowning, devastatingly alone. A boy sorrowfully hanging his hair over a textbook, tears sliding down his face and dampening small parts of the pages. Doubt. Self-hatred. No one cared. No one would care. (His eyes opened just a little and saw Azuma reading the instruction pamphlet, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. She would care, but only for a little while. Eventually, she would fall back into her usual routine. Azuma was strong, independent, and fiery. Or so Tsuji thought.)

Tsuji hated who he was that year. A selfish person clinging to foolish ideals. He yearned to be someone else entirely. That was why he remained in that chair all night. It was as if his arms and legs were shackled to it. Tsuji wanted to be born anew as someone strong and dominating. Azuma told him not to open his eyes because it would ruin the surprise. After the dyeing process, Tsuji heard careful snips as Azuma cut his hopefully blond hair. She had remained rather quiet, her attention solely on not messing up. However, as the hard part was now over, she was slowly returning to life, talking to Tsuji nonchalantly. Azuma sounded proud. 

Finally, the sound of scissors cutting away at hair stopped. “You can look now,” Azuma decided. 

Tsuji slowly opened his eyes, taking a while to become used to the sudden brightness. Then he zeroed in on his new hair. Unkempt and blond, he looked like a completely different person. His lips parted in a small “o” as his eyes darted between Azuma and his reflection. “Wow,” was all he could muster up the ability to say. 

“Looking good, Tsuji!” Azuma cheered. “I’m slightly envious. For now.” She bounced excitedly. “You look totally different, like someone else entirely! It’s making me hyped, I must say.”

“Wow,” Tsuji repeated, dumbfounded. He slowly stood up, and Azuma quickly took his place. “Thanks, Azuma.”

Azuma shrugged. “No problem. It’s our image as world dominators, after all.” She handed Tsuji the instructions and he got to work. 

Hours later, Tsuji and Azuma stood in the middle of the road, underneath a streetlight. They laughed to each other and counted down the minutes till midnight. They stood with their fingers intertwined, excitedly conversing with each other as excitement filled the frigid air. The two had neglected to bring along jackets, because they both liked the cold. Azuma ran her fingers through bright hair, grinning from ear to ear as she checked her phone. “Five minutes,” she told Tsuji.

“Five minutes,” Tsuji repeated. Five minutes till midnight. Five minutes till the beginning of their revolution, their coup. Five minutes to be the Tsuji who cowered and hid, a victim to the cruelties of societies. Spat on and deemed useless, that Tsuji had five minutes to live. However, it was beginning to feel that the weak Tsuji had already passed away. Newfound determination and confidence coursed through his veins. Not necessarily confidence in himself, but confidence in his mission. He could change the world.

And it looked like Azuma was experiencing similar revelations. She looked up at the sky, as if challenging everyone and anyone to a fight. She was excited to begin the search for allies to help join the cause. Where to begin…? Suddenly, midnight was upon them. Azuma and Tsuji fist-bumped and wished each other a happy new year. Suddenly, their festivities were interrupted.

“Do you kids have any place to go?” a voice asked. The voice belonged to a man in his early twenties. He had bright hair, an eyepatch, and a cigarette between his lips. He wore a jacket full of patches. 

“Would you like to join the resistance?” Azuma inquired.

Tsuji nearly choked on his spit.

The future seemed like it would be okay.


	2. Inter-Stellar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stella origin story a-go-go!

Not too long ago, there existed a star. 

This star was a bright blue, meaning that it was a considerably young one and burned hotter than most. Far away from Earth, it twinkled in its solar system, surrounded by desolate, lifeless planets. However, unlike most stars, the star was slightly sentient. Even then, the only thing the star was aware of was its own isolation. It grew pained at the lonely nature of its existence and wished for some form of companionship. For thousands of years, the star remained in solitude. 

Then, something miraculous occurred. A portion of the star, the part that contained its consciousness, broke away from the fiery ball of gas. The shooting star traveled across the galaxy, believing that everything it wished for was somehow within its reach. Its trajectory was a straight path, crossing a multitude of empty solar systems. It traveled for many years. Finally, it arrived upon its destination, a largely blue planet called “Earth.” Earth seemed to have all the requirements for organisms to inhabit it. Worn from its journey, the star piece started to fall through the atmosphere.

The star landed in a country named Japan. A couple of feet before hitting the ground, the human-sized blue light took on the form of a young boy with thin limbs and fluffy blue hair. As he hit the pavement, he experienced something he had never felt before: physical pain in his legs. The boy curled onto his side, bringing his knees to his chest as liquid sprung from his eyes.

“What the hell was that?” a tall man asked. His name was Akihiko, and he had a rather interesting hobby. He was a conman, a robber, and, most importantly, an escape artist. Everyone knew his face, knew he was a criminal, and threatened to call the police every chance they got. Everyone except this boy, that was.

The boy’s eyes met the man’s. Nervousness flooded through him—also a first. He had been anticipating meeting a lifeform his entire life, but, now that he had achieved his wildest dreams, he felt a bit apprehensive. What if interaction wasn’t everything he wanted it to be? What if this man caused him more pain? The boy’s eyes searched for something else to look at. Buildings. Skyscrapers taller than a hundred of him, something heard of as he had been a star for the longest time. Humans taller than him, too. Humans talking, humans walking, humans smoking, humans not sparing him a second glance, humans, humans, humans. 

He wanted to absorb it all.

“Who the hell are you? What the hell are you?” Akihiko sputtered, red eyes blown wide. The man noticed that the boy wasn’t dressed and threw his jacket around his shoulders. The boy let the jacket fall to the ground around him. Akihiko tried again. This time, he pulled the boy’s arms through the sleeves and did the buttons. He waited a few seconds, only to be greeted by silence. “Don’t understand me, do you?”

The boy blinked confusedly. Blinking, the covering of the eyeballs with the lids. He hindered his vision for less than a second, trapping him in the darkness he had wished to escape. He didn’t like it, but he supposed that he could get used to this strange habit. As well as breathing. His mouth opened, he sucked in—like a black hole. He also breathed out, and that felt even stranger.

“Of course not,” Akihiko sighed. He cleared his throat, and then asked in English, “Are you okay?”

Silence.

“Do you even speak at all?” he said in Japanese.

The boy opened his mouth, like the strange man had. He tried making a sound. “Ah.”

Akihiko furrowed his brow and did not say anything. Well, the boy couldn’t sleep. It didn’t seem like he understood, either. Leaving the boy on the street would be cruel, especially in this part of town. He reached out for the boy’s hand. Seeing that the boy would not reciprocate the touch, Akihiko grabbed the boy’s elbow and pulled him to his feet. To the older man’s surprise, the boy did not resist being dragged along the crowded streets of Tokyo. Instead, he looked at Akihiko with large lavender-colored eyes. 

“You need a name,” Akihiko said. He pondered this situation for a few seconds. Well, this boy had fallen through the sky, engulfed in a bright blue light, almost like a shooting star. “Star,” he said. He glanced back at the boy, who was now occupying himself with his own feet, almost like he had never seen them before. No, not Star. Star didn’t sound too much like a name. He thought of names with astronomical meanings. Like “Stella.” He was friends with a girl whose online alias was Stella, claiming that it was an out-of-this-world name for an out-of-this-world person.

“Stella.”

As if on cue, the boy looked up.

Akihiko stopped, the boy nearly colliding into him. “Stella.” Akihiko pointed a finger at the youth. 

The boy pointed back and repeated, “Stella.”

Akihiko shook his head. “No.” He grabbed Stella’s hand, flipped his wrist, and turned his hand back. “You’re Stella.”

This time, the boy pointed to himself and echoed the sound of his newly given name. The man was calling him Stella, he realized. 

Akihiko pointed at himself. “Akihiko.”

Stella pointed at the man, wearing a puzzled expression. “Akihiko?”

“Good.” Akihiko grabbed Stella’s hand and kept walking.

 

Five years later, Stella had learned how to speak Japanese, as well as write. However, he was no good at reading nor writing the language, so he often asked Akihiko to read to him. However, he had been able to convey his origins to the older man, who had adopted him as somewhat of a son. 

“I’m not surprised,” Akihiko had said with a sigh. “Earth’s already so goddamn weird.”

Now, Stella confined himself to the small room that contained his entire world. Rarely did he ever venture outside these walls. The world was just simply too hard for him to understand. Akihiko had pushed him to interact with some kids who looked around his age, but he just couldn’t bring himself to continue a conversation. He always couldn’t think of anything to say, so a meeting always turned awkward. Not to mention interaction with anyone but Akihiko drained him. For now, the world within his television was fine. Akihiko had introduced him to video games, so Stella occupied his time with that too.

He twiddled his thumbs against the controller of his new portable gaming system, something Akihiko had given to him as a celebration of their five years as family. Family. Another strange concept to grasp, but one that made Stella feel all warm and fuzzy inside. That was when he saw a familiar face on the television, of a man typed up with his nose bloodied and a gun to the back of his head. Police officers flanked him on all sides. Despite of all this, Akihiko wore a knowing smirk.

Stella dropped the game to the floor in shock. A surreal feeling began to build in his stomach, something he hadn’t felt for a long time. He had felt it when Akihiko had left him home alone for the first few times. Sweat began to build on his forehead, and he began to shake. He realized within in this instance how fragile the world was and how it was impossible to get back.

Sometimes, though, a miracle could come twice in someone’s lifetime. It was probably just because Akihiko was so goddamn lucky, but Stella felt a great feeling of relief when a group of people dressed in all back rushed the scene. Stella immediately pegged them as members of the Resistance, identifiable from the tear drop on their vests. They were known for causing trouble and interfering in arrests like this. 

Suddenly, the television screen turned to static, its persistent buzzing noise filling the empty silence of Stella’s room. The signal had been lost. Stella reached out and ran his fingers over the smooth surface of the screen, where his guardian’s picture had just been. Either the Resistance or the news channel themselves had stopped the footage from airing. He hoped it had been the former. 

Stella walked toward the door in a daze. He closed his eyes and fell to the floor. It was no use trying to find Akihiko. By the time he got to the scene, which had been undisclosed in the first place, Akihiko would probably be far gone. Stella would also certainly be scolded for endangering himself. He doubted that the man would return home first too. Probably off rendezvousing with the Resistance. That left only one option: to wait. Sitting there, unable to do anything, left a foul taste in Stella’s mouth. It reminded him of all those years spent as a lonely star. Still, Stella would wait for Akihiko.

 

Stella woke up to the door slamming into his stomach. He yelped in surprise.

“Shi—! Stella, what are you doing?”

Stella quickly scrambled to his feet and allowed tears to spill over his cheeks. Happiness and relief put his mind to ease. His world was intact; his life was whole. “You aren’t dead!”

Akihiko chuckled and shook his head. “You saw that, didn’t you? Heh. I’m sorry I scared you back there, but, you know, they don’t call me ‘The Greatest Escape Artist That Ever Lived’ for nothing.” 

A cough. “We bailed you out.” A girl…?

Suddenly, Stella became aware of the people standing behind Akihiko. The two students were dressed in school uniforms and wore medical masks covering their faces. That mixed with their messy dyed blond hair told Stella that they were the rebellious delinquent-type. He suddenly grew nervous and cowered behind Akihiko, who promptly grabbed his shoulders and steered him in front.

“This is Stella, one of those ‘otherworldly events’ you were talking about. Stella, this is Tsuji and Azuma. They’re nice kids and they’re the ones that assisted me in my great escape last night.”

Azuma scoffed at Akihiko, but looked at Stella with warm eyes. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Tsuji grinned and gave a two-fingered wave. “What’s up, Stella?”

“You’re the Resistance,” Stella realized softly. Gratitude filled his heart for the people who had saved Akihiko. He fought to urge to bend his body in a 90-degree bow. “Thank you.”

Azuma laughed. “No problem. Say, you’re not from Earth, right?”

Stella smiled crookedly and nodded. Akihiko had cautioned him against telling others where he had come from, but he owed the Resistance his honestly. Akihiko didn’t seem bothered by his response either. 

Tsuji’s eyes lit up. “That’s absolutely wicked. We have a lot to talk about.” He winked. “If you cooperate that is.”

Stella nodded. He ushered the two teens inside the house to tell them everything. It was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, it's me again! Sorry for not updating! >_<  
> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoy! aaaa i love neruke a lot!   
> also no proofreading we die like men

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!  
> Old Tsuji and Azuma can't come to the phone right now. They're dead.  
> Have any prompts (pleas e send me some)? Wanna cry about these sad kids? hmu on tumblr: neverlost-word.tumblr.com


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